ThePortForum.com

Well done my old Windbag. Now remember at 222....Nelson!

Do I have to wear a patch on my eye?

Are you starting to like your port level now, Derek?

How much of this thread should be heaved overboard to Meaningless Drivel? (Clue: “none† is not the correct answer.)

Yes, QdN LBV is definately a cut above anything I've seen so far.

I think the remainder of the list should remain a mystery until someone hits the relevant target

I wonder if we will hit the 1,000 posts before the end of our 1st week? What time did you launch the site on Wednesday?

Derek

Just as a mtter of interest, has anybody else spotted the new record number of users on-line?

jdaw1 wrote:How much of this thread should be heaved overboard to Meaningless Drivel? (Clue: “none† is not the correct answer.)

Unfortunately it isn't possible to heave parts of a thread from one place to another. So, when a thread goes off topic we either live with it or delete the whole lot. My vote goes to living with it, especially if it isn't attached to a serious port thread.

Derek

Alex,

Have you been playing, or just pushing random buttons again? That cant be right, can it?

It is possible to split threads; at least, I’ve seen it done elsewhere.

I noticed the same phenomenon on another site we all know of yesterday. Are there some gremlins at work here? Are all the guests coming from the same IP address? Could it be google's spiders crawling all over the site?

Derek

No Corky, that is right.

Is this site suddenly popular or is it the work of spambots?

It could be legitimate Google links. I'll take a peek.

Its just surged again. And Julian, I think that means we could be back on topic, as this may be the Google Effect?

I witnessed this at a new site we launched at work. My bet goes to google hits building up it's indices. Everyone post the words VINTAGE PORT 500 times simultaneously now

Derek

We now have 66 guests - there aren't 66 people in the world interested in port at the same point in time.

Batten down the hatches, load the guns, launch the lifeboats - incoming Porn

I'l go up top out the bunker to see whats incoming, and if necessary, take a hit for the lads.

Go on you heathens...show me your worst...hang on a minute, let me get me glasses!

It's the Yahoo crawler, which is building indices for its Search Engine. All of the IP addresses are from the same root and they are all Yahoo crawler ids.

Sorry guys - not real, it should stop soon.

Phew, for I while there I was afraid there were far more port lovers in this world than we previously knew of.

RonnieRoots wrote:Phew, for I while there I was afraid there were far more port lovers in this world than we previously knew of.

…with the commensurate affect on auction prices. Phew indeed.

It was quite funny watching what the different guests were up to. Several of them seemed obsessed with Meaningless Drivel.

That spider is still crawling around, it's currently in Tasting Notes.

Uh oh, I think they are off again, must be that time of night.

They have lots of new TNs to read tonight

Back on Subject!!!

Being rather bored, I started trawling through Google with the words The, Port, and Forum, in the Search Bar.
It took until the 9th page to appear (Jdaw1's Placemat reference) So we're in there, but could do with being a lot higher.

Alan

if you type "The Port Forum" without the quotes we are number 3, with the quotes we are number 1, you can even do an "I'm feeling lucky" and get straight here. No idea what you put in.

We don't do so well on other searches, especially missing the '"The".

I did it as a Port Enthusiast who doesn't know about us might do. Type Port as one word, then a gap then Forum. If anyone is just surfing with an interest in talking about Port, I'd like us to be in front of him as soon as possible. Understandably we have to fight the other type of Port, the one the ships dock in.

Alan

I'll be looking at the keywords again to try and get the best shots at results.

Googlebot crawlers have been on today.

What are 'Crawlers' an what do they do? Are they human beings or automated programmes?

Crawlers [or Spiders] are automated programs that scan through the content of websites looking for words, phrases and themes that they can add to their index.

When you search google you do not search the internet, you search googles index of what google thinks the internet contains base on its last scan of each of the websites visible to it.

If you actually managed to send out a search that scanned every page on every website in existence from the moment you initiated the search your great great grandchildren would be dead before the result was displayed on your screen

Derek

Well lets hope they caught words like Port and Forum, and not Conkys Crap Jokes or Dereks ********!

The funny thing is, we will now be in the top 5 hits on the search "Barry Manalow"





Her....name.....was.... lo.o.o.o.o.la, she was a showgirl

But that was 30years ago....when they used to have a show!

da, da ,da ,da ,da .....da, da, da ,da ,da
ya, da ,da, didi, didi, da.... da, da, da, da, da, da-da-da

Thats some mean Port your drinking!

Warres LBV 95

Tisk! Kid in a bloody sweet shop. When its gone, its gone!!!

I've sent 18 off to boarding school so will be able to drink them when both the wine and I are mature

This appears to have caused a spam problem. I have dealt with this by adding an approval step to registration. This means we will get the odd extra name turning up shortly before I dump it but no dodgy links and iffy pictures of well-known blonde American ladies (for want of a better word).

Any seemingly legitimate ones will be allowed on unless they prove my naivete.

Keep up the good work...and Border Controls!

As a matter of interest, sticking a signature seems to be a good idea. Put in a good one that attracts attention and it shows up on Google.

How's this.....

Like it.

Its not Port related, but what about...

Harry Potter stories are so far fetched. I mean, I can buy the fact that magic exists, maybe even unicorns, but have you ever seen a ginger kid with 2 mates???

I'll get me coat.

KillerB,

Can you please clarify - is it other things from Portugal that are pretending ? If so, what are they pretending to be?

Derek

Patently not, it is other things called 'Port' that are not from Portugal that are doing the pretence thing.

Just wanted to be sure, you never know with those pretending Portugues things, they turn up when you least expect them to

Its an interesting question to ask how people find port sites using Google or one of the other search engines. Personally, I usually use "Vintage Port" including the quotes.

If I do that in Google then I start with the Symington's site (http://www.thevintageportsite.com), then Decanter magazine, Vintage Wine Gifts (the people who appear to be single-handedly responsible for driving up UK port auction prices) and then loads of other things. I have no idea where TPF shows up as I just didn't have the patience to find it in the list of 380,000 hits.

Even adding +forum to the search only reduces the number of hits down to 32,500 but still doesn't show TPF on the first two pages.

So what (if anything) should be done to try to make this site easier for people to find?

Alex

Conky wrote:It must make you proud to think you have a son who will be able to communicate with Luc on his level!
Make sure he keeps up with his French lessons at school.

And while I'm on, something tells me the picture Luc posts of himself is not going to be as straight forward as we hoped!

Great news about Google.

Alan

Aaaaaa la langue de Molière !!
The anticipation , can't you just feel the tension .
I hope you are aware that I will have to decant my photo before It is seen